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Landcare in the Ginninderra Catchment

An Overview of the Ginninderra Catchment Group Landcare Program

Ginninderra Landcare is about communities taking informed action in partnership with government, business and other non-government organisations to protect the rural and urban landscape of the Ginninderra Creek Catchment.

Ginninderra Landcarers come together as Landcare and Parkcare Groups across the catchment to address the causes and effects of land and water degradation. They do this by:

taking practical on-ground action

educating and engaging the broader catchment community

contributing to and influencing catchment management policy and investment decisions.

Ginninderra Landcare has been operating for well over a decade. During that time 12 separate groups have operated across the catchment. Despite major social and demographic changes, including the nature of environmental volunteerism, 10 Landcare groups continue to operate effectively and attract new membership.As the Ginninderra Landcare movement grew, it was recognised that a more coordinated, strategic approach was needed to enable Landcarers to implement partnership based projects which more effectively addressed land and water degradation issues. This lead to the formation of the Ginninderra Catchment Group Inc (GCG) in 1996. The GCG supports and represents Landcarers working on the Ginninderra Creek Catchment.The GCG receives grant funding from the Australian and ACT Governments and other forms of funding and in-kind support. This is used to:

The long term goals of the GCG and its Landcare members are to work with all catchment stakeholders to:

Create ecosystems that accommodate human settlement but reduce the impacts and their effects on environmental systems;

Restore and maintain as much of the natural setting as possible within an urban environment;

Ensure more systematic, catchment wide sustainable environmental outcomes from the activities of volunteers.

These long term goals have been translated into a comprehensive catchment strategy. You can download a copy of the “Ginninderra Catchment Group Strategy 2000” from our ‘Resources and Downloads’ page.

Some of Our Achievements

Collectively, the GCG and its Landcarers are the oldest Landcare movement in the ACT. It has a proud record of achievement in:

Catchment planning and investment

Landscape improvement

Collaboration and influence

Education and community engagement

The GCG was the first incorporated catchment group in the ACT to develop catchment wide community driven strategic plan. It remains a resilient, comprehensive platform. It not only guides on-ground work, it also enables the GCG to influence catchment management policy and decision making. The action plans derived from the strategic plan are continually updated to accommodate new circumstances, such as the development of a new ACT Natural Resource Management Plan.

The GCG and its Landcarers have attracted in excess of $0.75 million in project funding. Our continuing high success rate in securing project funding is testimony to our delivery and governance capabilities.We are also taking a leadership role in collaborating with other stakeholder organisations to explore new investment approaches, and to better harness public and private input.The GCG and its Landcarers have instigated and supported on-ground landscape improvement works in over fifty sites across the catchment. These works have addressed creek corridor restoration, gully erosion control, revegetation, weed control and wetland development. Building on these achievements, we are now leading a range of landscape improvement initiatives to: assist more strategically targeted control of major invasive grass weeds in urban areas; evaluate non-chemical approaches to managing Serrated Tussock; develop better techniques to rejuvenate and extend remnant native grassland areas; and explore “carbon capture” opportunities on grazing lands.

The GCG and its Landcarers have a proud record of “grass roots” volunteering. Collectively we have contributed an estimated 20,000 volunteer hours to the implementation of on-ground projects. In 1997, the GCG was instrumental in initiating a Belconnen wide campaign, bringing a number of community organizations and businesses together to be awarded the 1997 ACT’s Tidiest Town and National Finalist in the Keep Australia Beautiful Tidy Town Awards.Over the past eight years the GCG has lead and supported a dedicated band of Waterwatch volunteers, has expanded its network of Frogwatch volunteers to over 300, and has continually increased the value and credibility of both programs. These, in turn, are integrated with the rest of the Group’s activities.

The GCG and its Landcarers have also consistently engaged in education and skills development, eg, educational campaigns in stormwater management and urban biodiversity protection, skills training in weed control, revegetation and catchment health monitoring; engagement of over 2500 school students in Waterwatch and other catchment health related activities, and over 250 field days, displays and community forums. Beyond these achievements we are pursuing other innovative education and engagement initiatives including the development of a wetland education facility.

Recognising changing social patterns the GCG and its Landcarers are exploring new ways to involve the broader community including the development of “e-networks”.

Our sustained and creative commitment to collaboration and influence is also a hallmark of our operations. Beyond our continuing close association with other Catchment and Landcare organisations within the ACT, we have developed constructive, mature, collaborative relationships with government at both the political and agency level, with local government in neighbouring New South Wales and with the private sector. Through these relationships we have actively engaged government as partners in the delivery of projects, while at the same time advocating for change on actual areas of catchment management policy and decision making.

The GCG and its Landcarers continue to explore and develop new opportunities for collaboration and value adding. Our strengthening relationship with key sectors of the urban development industry and the recent establishment of the “Bush on the Boundary” reference group are two examples.

“The GCG and its Landcarers are as committed to the Ginninderra Creek Catchment and its communities as we were over a decade ago. We will continue to build on our grass roots heritage, deliver practical on-ground outcomes of lasting benefit and influence policy and decision making. In the year 2017, we are confident we will be able to look back over the previous 10 years with the same pride in our achievements as we have today”.